YOUR SAY: It's time to dump all Daylight Saving

GRAEME Brittenden seeks the advancement of Australian Eastern Standard Time by 30minutes on a permanent basis and the abandonment of Daylight Saving Time on the east coast of Australia.

He said it was a question that has never been asked before and the Queensland State Attorney-General has challenged him to collect a meaningful reaction from the people of Queensland.

DID you know there is a sector of the eastern seaboard between Rockhampton in the north and Wollongong in the south which has never been part of any standard time zone in Australia since universal time zones were adopted by our forefathers in 1892?

Between 10-11 million people (43% of our population) presently live in this sector.

In an attempt to correct this anomaly, a rather ill-conceived and confusing practice was introduced into the national landscape in October 1971 - the concept became known as Summer Time in state legislation.

It has continued in some eastern states and the ACT ever since. Clocks were adjusted by 60 minutes (an over-kill by 30 minutes) every six months or so.

The practice was also known as daylight saving time (DST) - defined in an article by Mike Corones [Reuters, November 26, 2014] as "the greatest continuing fraud ever perpetuated on the American people".

It is not unreasonable to refer to DST in Australia in the same terms.

Geographic factors mean that not all eastern states can justifiably advance their clocks by as many as 60 minutes every October.

As a result the partial observation of Summer Time on the east coast has become fragmented and is causing chaos and confusion at some state borders, confusion in our domestic airline timetables and extra costs in doing business between states.

According to a 2010 report by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Queensland, the extra costs to the state economy are $4.35 billion per annum.

At an average rate of 25 cents in the dollar, the best part of $1 billion is not reaching the federal tax coffers.

This proposal will assist in rectifying this situation - it makes sense and is realistic.

Here is my proposal: Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania amend their respective legislation so that standard time in each of those legislatures is 10.5 hours in advance of GMT/UTC.

Summer Time/ DST on the eastern seaboard becomes a thing of the past.

Australia reverts to three time zones on a permanent basis. The benefits to the national economy would be considerable.

All clocks on the eastern seaboard would be synchronised year-round - a much better way of carrying on business between the major states - which encompasses 80% of the nation's population.

The six-monthly adjusting of clocks would cease.

To implement this proposal the following needs to be done: the premiers and the chief minister on the eastern seaboard need to agree that these changes would benefit the state and national economies.

Relevant legislation in the eastern states and the ACT needs to be amended.

I have asked my federal members to convince our PM that he should prevail upon the relevant state leaders to agree to have their legislation amended as soon as possible, either directly, or via a COAG resolution.

The necessary legislation would then be in place so that, at 2am on Sunday, October 2, 2016, or prior if thought appropriate, all clocks in Queensland, NSW, the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania would be advanced by 30 minutes and never changed again.

I have been researching this matter over the last four years. I have addressed numerous governing bodies. It's about time we fixed our clocks forever.